We all knew that there was a good shot that NC State came into next season without any recruits, but with Lacey leaving to go pro and Washington transferring, all of the sudden NC State needs bodies.

The good news is that Gottfried is on the case. Over the past year he has been recruiting two very skilled 5 star players. With the talent pool State had projected for next season, it seemed as if both of these guys were pipedreams, but with a lot of playing time on the table, things could be changing:

– 5 star forward Brandon Ingram is from Kinston and is being dubbed Kevin Durant Lite. He’s a 6’8 kid with good handles, body control and an elite ability to score it. He is from NC but the biggest problem is that his mentors include Reggie Bullock and Jerry Stackhouse (both UNC grads). So why are we even following him? Well, because he hasn’t said ‘no’ to NC State just yet. He is down to Duke, UNC, Kentucky, UCLA, Kansas and State. Yesterday he sat down with Coach Gottfried and listened to his final pitch. With Carolina guys mentoring him and Duke fresh off a national title and able to promise him a ton of minutes, Gottfried really has a tough sell, but don’t ever count him out. Ingram has been a fixture at home game this past season and has previously said that NC State wants to use him like they used Warren (which is as a high volume scorer). State isn’t out of this thing yet. Stay tuned. Ingram will announce his decision on Monday, April 27th.

– The other big time recruiting the Pack has been tracking is Malik Newman. The 5 star shooting guard is a cold blooded scorer who looked like a Kentucky lock just a few weeks ago, but all of the sudden things started to shift. LSU made a huge push and with their insane class already taking shape many believe Newman would jump on board. He still might, but with LSU getting a commitment from Brandon Sampson (5 star shooting guard) on Monday morning, this is looking less likely. The LSU news and the gap left by Trevor Lacey seems to not have gone unnoticed. Newman is related to Mo Williams, the NBA star who played his college ball under Mark Gottfried. This could be a key factor when it comes decision time. Newman would have the ability to not only come to a school that could give him major minutes, but one that is looking desperately for scoring. This is exactly what he wants as he figures to be a one and done (or a 2 year player) and a guy who wants the ball in his hands. He hasn’t visited State yet and none of the national talking heads are listing the Pack, but there’s a lot of talk swirling around that NC State has as good a chance as anyone to land this kid. He announced today that he will make his decision on Friday. The kicker, however, is that no decision he makes will be held as final since he has already said he will not be signing an LOI. Should State land Newman, look for the chances of bringing in Ingram to increase.

 
Things are getting crazy right now and the fortune of NC State’s team next year could drastically change should either of these guys choose the Pack. Hunker down folks, things are getting interesting.